Elder David Kirkwood Bean's letters as he serves as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in the Brazil São Paulo North Mission!

Elder Bean's Mission Scripture

Elder Bean's Mission Scripture:

Alma 26: 35

35Now have we not reason to rejoice? Yea, I say unto you, there never were men that had so great reason to rejoice as we, since the world began; yea, and my joy is carried away, even unto boasting in my God; for he has all power, all wisdom, and all understanding; he comprehendeth all things, and he is a merciful Being, even unto salvation, to those who will repent and believe on his name.

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

March 18, 2013 Helping others take baby steps to the non-smoking elevator...

The news is old...but newly posted...so new to all you BeaninBrazil Blog readers!

Hi, everybody! Elder Lucas and I had a great week. It was a super busy, a little stressful,
kinda painful totally worth it, awesome-sauce week. So what’s new? Well, I’ll tell you:

Scriptural thoughts attached to cigarettes -
helping good people break a bad habit

1. We’re working with
some people who need to overcome their smoking addiction before their baptisms, and we
are coming up with the craziest ideas! We've written scripture references on their cigarettes, made fake cigarettes for them to hold and encouraged them to tally how many cigarettes
they smoke in a day on a picture of Christ. It’s
crazy, but the results are good! From 3
packs a day (about 60 cigarettes) to ½ pack (10 a day) — They’re really
progressing! It’s so cool seeing people
trying to “leave the world” behind.

2. We don’t have any
credits on our cell phone, so to talk to anybody we’ve been having to go there “
by foot” and talk face to face! Ahh!!

3. I’m the stroganoff
wizard! I’ve become really good at
making rice and a good ol’ stroganoff.
Cool, huh?

Elder Groesbeck and Elder Bean

4. We had a wonderful
conference on Tuesday with a few other zones, and I learned a ton! Our zone leaders (Elder Groesbeck and Elder
Young) taught a great workshop on our purpose: to baptize. Really, everything we do points to baptism,
and I learned how to preach baptism in all I do. Sometimes missionaries don’t want to invite people to be baptized because they don’t want to offend, be rejected
or feel uncomfortable. But when we treat
baptism like a normal necessity (which it is), the people also see it as normal. We learned a lot of other cool stuff, and as
we’ve started applying it in our day-to-day work we’re seeing major differences
already! It’s super. I also got to see Elder Petersen (my first
trainer and companion in the field) at the conference. :)

5. The “mantle” of
responsibility I’ve been feeling is still heavy, but it’s also happy. I love this work!

6. If you had told me
four months ago that I’d be teaching an Argentinean the Portugues language, and
taking the lead in the lessons and making decisions for the work, I would have
said you were crazy. I’m in Brazil, folks, on a mission, and so
happy to be here!